A typical so-called “upright” vacuum cleaner comprises a wheeled head assembly, which carries a fixed cleaner head, and an ‘upright’ body which can be reclined relative to the cleaner head and which includes a handle for maneuvering the vacuum cleaner across the floor. In use, a user grasps the handle and reclines the upright body until the handle is disposed at a convenient height for the user; the user can then roll the vacuum cleaner across the floor using the handle in order to pick up dust and other debris on the floor. The dust and debris is drawn in through a downward-facing suction inlet on the cleaner head by a motor-driven fan housed on-board the vacuum cleaner. From here, the dirt-laden air stream is then ducted under the fan-generated suction pressure to some sort of separating apparatus on board the vacuum cleaner, where dirt is separated from the air before the relatively clean air is then expelled back to the atmosphere. The separating apparatus may include a bag or cyclone, and may also include one or more filters for filtering very fine particulates from the air stream.
Historically, upright vacuum cleaners were maneuvered across the floor by sequentially pushing and pulling the cleaner in straight lines, and the handle thus served primarily as a “push-pull” handle. Many upright vacuum cleaners are still maneuvered in this push-pull manner, and examples of typical push-pull handles are shown in GB200710018A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,016,315A, 6,526,623B, U.S. D553814S, CN100464686C and GB2448745A. The first three of these examples each show a forwardly-extending handle; the remaining three examples each show a rearwardly-extending handle.
More recently, handles on upright vacuum cleaners are being configured to rotate from side-to-side about the longitudinal axis of the upright body in order to provide some additional functionality for the cleaner. An example of this is shown in EP1 526796, where the handle of the cleaner forms part of a steering mechanism for improving maneuverability of the cleaner; here, both the upright body and the handle are co-rotatable from side to side about the longitudinal axis of the upright body as the cleaner is being pushed or pulled, in order to point the cleaner head in a desired direction and thus steer the vacuum cleaner across the floor.